Lower Mainland Steel’s charity golf tournament raises $100,000

The 7th annual Lower Mainland Steel (LMS) Charity Golf Tournament and auction raised $100,000 for Canuck Place Children’s Hospice.

Fun for a Good Cause

VANCOUVER

When the final tally from the proceeds of the 7th annual Lower Mainland Steel (LMS) Charity Golf Tournament and auction, featuring a Rat Pack Sixties Sinatra-Davis-Martin theme, was finished there were a lot of zeros floating around and they did indeed look like Dean Martin’s “Tiny Bubbles”. But, in fact, all those zeros were nudging a one and adding up to a record $100,000, which was donated to Canuck Place Children’s Hospice a week later. Canuck Place opened in 1995 as North America’s first free-standing children’s hospice and remains today a model hospice providing emotional, physical, and spiritual support for children with terminal illnesses and their families. The facility can house up to 10 children and four families.

“Last year, we raised $85,000 and I was hoping we would raise more this year,” said Ron McNeil, partner and director of LMS, happy with the event’s success. The Whistler golf tournament was held at the Big Sky Golf and Country Club July 20 and the Nicklaus North Golf Course on July 21, drawing in 128 golfers. The dinner and charity auction on July 20 had 170 participants and was held at the Four Seasons Hotel.

“This is the seventh tournament and our sixth year supporting Canuck Place,” said McNeil, adding that companies in the construction industry are enjoying good times and he is pleased that LMS has the opportunity to support the community.

The tournament’s first year supported the CKNW Orphans Fund. McNeil said the corporate event, which has a charity component focusing on children, also provides the company with an opportunity to thank customers and suppliers. “But, the charity has grown to be the largest part of the event,” he said, adding that funds now raised for Canuck Place are “more than $300,000”.

Canuck Place CEO Filomena Nalewajek said while LMS is the corporate structure behind the event, often the individuals driving it are over-looked. “The two partners Ron McNeil and Ivan Harmatny are phenomenal people,” said Nalewajek, speaking of their dedication to the hospice. She said while many charity events raise funds but deduct the costs of the events, LMS does not. “They underwrite the cost of the event,” she said, adding 100 per cent of the money raised goes to Canuck House to help purchase equipment, medicine, and pay for staff. The facility desperately needs support, said Nalewajek, as it exists on donations and welcomes donations from the construction industry.

“Ron and Ivan are really the gold standard for the construction industry,” she said.

The LMS Whistler event also featured a draw. This year’s big winner of a refurbished Lincoln Continental, vintage 1966 (the year 50-year-old Frank Sinatra married Mia Farrow), was Bill Hogg, director/business banking, Bank of Montreal. Other draw prizes included a trip to Palm Springs and a tour of Frank Sinatra’s home (Twin Palms), a 1947 Stewart Williams designed home for Sinatra and his first wife Nancy Barbato. The home, located near residences once owned by Al Jolson, Jack Benny and Cary Grant, still has Sinatra’s original state-of-the-art sound system built into the home. As well as a media room, it also features a piano shaped swimming pool. A final prize of a gold watch was also donated as a prize by Palladio Jewellers.

McNeil said a growing roster of celebrities turn up for the event. This year’s tournament was attended by Tony Parsons (anchor/Global TV), Pat Quinn, and Canuck alumni members. John McKeachie, well known sports caster, was the master-of-ceremonies for the event which was organized by Paul Nijjer, who volunteers his time to the charity event every year. Nijjer, the Vancouver-Whistler sales representative for Golf B.C., says he’s not surprised at the success of the tournament. “There are so many great sponsors of this event,” he says, adding “there is huge support in the community for the hospice.”

This year’s winner of the golf tournament was investment banker David Rentz of Canaccord Capital, who walked away with “bragging rights”, said McNeil, adding that the golf is “really secondary to all this” and no prize is given.

With this year’s event bringing the sum total of funds raised to approximately $400,000, McNeil said he is expecting next year’s event to attract more supporters and raise even more funds for charity. Next year’s event is being held in Courtenay on Vancouver Island at the Crown Isle resort. An extra day has been added and the event will run from July 18 to 20. “The Friday will feature an afternoon barbecue,” said McNeil, adding the golf tournament and charity auction/dinner will be held over the following two days. The theme for next year’s event is Caddyshack, the zany 1980s golfing flick featuring Roger Dangerfield, Bill Murray and golfer Ty Webb, played by Chevy Chase, who gives up one of the movie’s great lines: “There’s a force in the universe that makes things happen. And, all you have to do is get in touch with it, stop thinking, let things happen and be the ball.”

McNeil said he hopes everyone will participate again next year and make it happen again.